Laugh and Live Part 4

Consideration for others does not admit of ostentation and hypocrisy. We never allow our left hand to know what our right hand does in charity, nor do we _boast of our helpful att.i.tude toward our fellow men_. It is well to make a point of this fact--in this world are many "_ne'er-do-wells"_ who fail to profit by advice and thereby become professional in the seeking of favors. Consideration owes them nothing and to withstand their persistent appeals would in time _dull our natural tendencies_ toward helping others.

The world helps those who help themselves. We have little admiration for the man who is forever whining. Society has no work for such people as these. When we have exhausted every means of helping such a man we must in self-defense pa.s.s him up before he contaminates our sense of justice.

_We must keep our visions clear._

Consideration for others is a prime refinement of character. To be able to use it in our daily lives becomes one of our greatest consolations.

Sympathy begets affection and kindly deeds--in a relative sense it binds together the properties which go to make _the soul within us_.

Browbeating, scolding, irascibility and the like are microbes which react against the milk of human kindness, to which, if we succ.u.mb, leaves us stranded and alone amid a world of friendliness and good fellowship.

CHAPTER X

KEEPING OURSELVES DEMOCRATIC

Big words and pomposity never were designed for the highest types of men. Our great national figures have almost without exception had one quality which was a keynote to their ultimate success--this was their _simplicity_. Next was their _accessibility_. There are numberless big-hearted and big-brained individuals in the world whose duties are so manifold that in order to accomplish what has been placed in their hands they must be saved from interruption, but the truly great individual is never hidden away entirely from his fellow man. He never becomes such a slave to detail that he does not find time to fraternize with ordinary mortals. We do not find him concealed behind impenetrable barriers, guarded and pampered by courtiers like unto a king on his throne--or tucked away in some dark office. He wants to know _everybody worth while_ and everybody worth while is welcomed by him. He doesn't affect to know so much that he cannot be told something new. He is not the sort to refuse to see us at any reasonable time.

We should not confound _greatness_, however, with _notoriety_. A man who by virtue of large publicity has compelled public notice isn't necessarily a great man no matter how hard he may strive to make himself appear so. Especially is this true of the man who does not make a personal success corresponding to his advertised fame. In time he may have the "ear-marks" of notability but, as Lincoln said: "_You can't fool all of the people all of the time._"

It is to be noted with satisfaction that the big captains of industry keep themselves free from petty details. "I surrounded myself with clever men," said Andrew Carnegie in accounting for his success and by the same token the men who took over his great affairs and gave them larger scope and power surrounded themselves with still other clever men, thus reserving their judgment and thought _for the higher policies of their inst.i.tutions_. They keep themselves in readiness for consultation, and having men of _initiative_ and _self-reliance_ underneath them, they find time to take in hand other affairs than those of the tremendous businesses they manage. Men of this type often become prominent in public affairs and develop into highly important citizens.

The bigger the man, the less he enc.u.mbers himself with matters which can be delegated to others. His desk is clear of all litter and minutia--_likewise his mind_. Such men keep their physiques and mentalities in fine working order and are not to be goaded into _ill temper_. A refinement of mind is supremely essential to the man who desires to climb to the very top of the ladder. He cannot afford to close his brain to outside information. He is forced to keep it open in order to let in continuous currents of new thought. He doesn't want his visage to "_cream and mantle as a standing pond_" as Shakespeare aptly puts it--therefore the windows of his thinking department are kept open for refreshing draughts from the outside. He reasons that always there are new guests, new faces, new things to talk about at the banquet board of life.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Taking on Local Color_]

And here is the point--if men who carry on the great industries of the world find a way to keep themselves democratic surely men of less importance should be able to do the same? The sn.o.b is about as offensive a person as could be described. He is usually a hypocrite or an ignoramus--sometimes both. His pomposity is naturally repellent. We easily become accustomed to dodging such characters. The detriment is theirs--not ours. They are left by the wayside and sooner or later wake up to the fact that they stand alone in the world.

The world loves the man with _an open mind_. This is the usual spirit of the progressive citizen. _He wants to know_--and by reason of his accessibility knowledge is brought to him. No one cares to take up the task of informing the egotist who already knows it all. Such is his inherent cussedness that we would rather let him warp in the oven of his own half-baked knowledge. Life is too short to waste our time in educating him.

"How can I see Mr. So-and-so?" says one man to another.

"Don't try," is the answer. "He's not worth seeing. You can't tell _him_ anything."

And this sort of a chap misses the big opportunities just because he chooses to build up a reputation for being exclusive. He digs himself a hole and crawls into it _and pulls the hole in after him_. We can safely imagine him treating the members of his family as though they were servants, and his employees as though they were slaves. He may succeed in small things but in the big game of life we may write him down as a failure.

If we have a big idea we take it to a big man--_the man of vision_.

Anything less is to putter around aimlessly. The bigger he is, the more democratic. He will not look for imperfections in our personal make-up when we show him the _new process_ we have discovered.

To be democratic is a triumph of the soul--tending to bring us in close touch with the throbbing heart of humanity. There is no isolation for those of unaffected charm and manner--no barrier in the way of friendship worth having. It is our lack of judgment if we hide ourselves so that we cannot be approached. No matter how high we rise, for the sake of our own brains we must allow _men of ideas_ to get to us. We must not allow our minds to become stagnant. If we fail to get into daily contact with other people, we soon grow dull and uninteresting even to ourselves. Great men may have no time to fritter away but they have plenty of leisure for men worth while--_the pushers and the thinkers_.

A democratic spirit does not come to the selfish man. He is absorbed in himself and is quite a hopeless case. He is a natural born faultfinder and grouchy by nature. For him life holds no joy save the one in sight.

Taking the big look at the man of this type we can only be sorry for him because of his lack of early training. He started off on the wrong foot and thereafter drifted along. Seldom do we overcome the habits with which we arrive at man's estate. Those who do are ent.i.tled to a right hand seat among the chosen.

Being democratic is another phrase for being _human and kind_. It means that we ought to be able to see behind every face and find the truth of that individual's existence. It means that life is largely a matter of how we look at it and being human is one way to get the proper slant at things.

The human mind has _great adaptive power_ and can be molded into a thousand ways of thinking. The intelligent man, the man who has taken stock of himself, is able to smile and extend a hearty handclasp whether he feels tip-top or not. He doesn't have to look glum simply because the world hasn't thrown itself at his feet. He has only to persevere and success will come eventually.

We must correct our failings as we go along or we will slip down into the rut and stay there. It is a simple matter to be good natured and full of the zest of life if we poise ourselves right--_keep ourselves democratic_. It is this great soul quality which brings us true friends and boosts us into the fulfillment of our ambitions. Then we may truly _laugh and live_.

CHAPTER XI

SELF-EDUCATION BY GOOD READING

The character of a man expresses itself by the books he reads. Every well-informed man since the invention of printing has been a close reader of a few books that stand out from among the many. We read of Lincoln devouring the few books he had, over and over again and studying from cover to cover and word for word the Webster's dictionary of his day. We know that Grant had his favorite volumes from which he drew inspiration and solace. These men made eternal friends of certain great thinkers and drank in their learning with all the fervor of their natures.

"A few good books, digested well, do feed The mind."

"Feed the mind!" That's the idea--_but how shall we feed it_? The answer is easy--with something _worth while_--something that will inform and inspire. We can cram our minds to the point of indigestion with useless, frivolous information just as easily as we may cram our stomachs with certain foods that tear down rather than build up. The habit of reading the right sort of books should begin early in life and continue throughout our days.

Good books are real ... and as we read we feel, hear, see and understand in the way the author did. If what is said appeals to our way of thinking _a new world_ is unfolded to our vision filled to the brim with things we can think about and add to our stock of knowledge. While we are buried in its leaves we may live over the thoughts that the writer lived. For the time being he becomes as real and vital to us as the dearest friend we possess. Gradually, as the time pa.s.ses by, he creeps into our affections until our lives would not be complete without the comradeship of his cherished book.

Books that become our "pals" are not necessarily books of the so-called cla.s.sical type. Little known volumes may prove to have enough thought stored away between their covers to keep us interested all our days. The great books will prove their worth in a short time no matter how poor the binding, how bad the type or how cheap the paper. These things are after all only the outward manifestations and though we like to see our friends dressed well yet we know that the clothes do not make character unless there is character there in the first place. And so it is with books. These little ungainly volumes which we purchase on the stands may be the cla.s.sics of tomorrow ... who knows?

We select our library carefully. No matter if we live in a tiny hall bedroom on the top floor of a boarding house we have a shelf somewhere with a few good books on it. Emerson's "Essays" can be had in one volume and are well worth having. No other American writer has been so inspiring, so invigorating as this thinker of Concord. One cannot read his essays without having a desire to _get up and do_. It is like a breath of fresh air ... a tonic ... a stiff morning walk. It stirs the mind to action and inspires us to lift ourselves out of the rut into which we have fallen. One returns to them time after time, each reading opening up new vistas of thought, new lines of mental development.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A Scene from "His Picture in the Papers"_]

_As a man's stomach is what he eats, a man's mind is what he reads._ It goes without saying that no healthy, active mind could exist without the companionship of Shakespeare. Nowadays it is possible to secure the entire works of the immortal poet in one volume. There is a special Oxford University edition which can be had for a small sum. The type is large, the paper good and there are many notes to help one over the rocky places. There is no doubt of the truth of the saying that a man who reads Shakespeare consistently and with understanding needs no other education. Like the philosopher Emerson he boiled down the world's thoughts into terse sentences and one goes into a new universe when reading any of the plays. It is a good thing to learn parts of them by heart so that we can apply them to our own lives. They strengthen the mind ... their beauty lifts us into a great realism of splendid thought ... and they fill the heart with a longing to do something great. Such books should become steady companions through life. No matter where our duties call us we should see to it that we do not leave behind the thoughts of this master mind of Shakespeare. The very fact that we have them near us lifts us out of the monotony of nothing to do.

Among the books about America for Americans perhaps Roosevelt's "Winning of the West" is among the best. Not only has he thrown the whole vigor of his interesting personality into the writing of it, but he has given us a vivid picture of the conquest of the States by the settlers. No man could read it without being thrilled at the dangers our forefathers faced ... at the great courage they possessed ... at their hardihood ...

their bulldog tenacity. The reading of such a book is like going back over the years and living with them, sharing their troubles and their enthusiasms. The man who contemplates gathering a small library could not afford to do without the inspiration of what his countrymen have done for him.

In choosing our books we must bear in mind one thing--_let them be inspiring_. Let them be of such a nature that when we read them we will feel like going out into the world to accomplish something _big_!

That is probably the mission of great books--to inspire and uplift. The world's greatest men have been readers--would they have cared for books unless they were inspiring? It is said that when Napoleon was being taken to St. Helena he advised one of the officers never to stop reading.

Most of the things worth while are at some time or other stored away in books by the thinkers. Every phase of history, every movement to better mankind and lift it above the drudgery of mere toil, every beautiful thought is to be found in them and the better the book the more will be found in it of these very things. When we have finished the day's work we can pull down a volume from the shelf and in a moment be lost in an entirely different world. The man who neglects to read surely misses the one best means of broadening his mind.

All books of the better cla.s.s furnish food for thought and are excellent tools for the man of initiative. To read means keeping in touch with the big visions. We cherish these dreams and make them real in plans of our own. Aspiration is behind the pages of every worth-while volume. It was the motive power which drove the author to produce it and it should become a part of the forces which drive us on to victory. Without such inspiration we grope as children in the dark. We are without a light to guide us on our way.

Books by such men as Marden and Hubbard are great generators of the electricity of doing things. They have put into words those innermost emotions which are the instruments of success. They point out a way we may safely follow. They loan us inspiration which causes us to act for ourselves. They give us thoughts that are useful and practical which we never would have gained by virtue of our own reasoning power. They made it a life work to coin into phrases words that inspire. Out of their large experience came the logical sequences of cause and effect. Not to profit by their teachings is a crime against our own prospects--without them we lag behind. Instead of progressing we look on in wonder at what is going on in the world. Somehow we cannot connect ourselves with the big enterprises. And all because we failed to feed our minds properly.

There is much to be gained both in pleasure and knowledge by reading historical novels, and the lives of great men. The books of Sir Walter Scott and James Fenimore Cooper are rated among the best in the world.

Grant's autobiography and the personal stories of other famous Americans provide fascinating material with which to establish and fortify our test for good literature. The tales of modern American financiers is another field of absorbing interest.

The man with small means can provide himself with a working library for a very little money. Books are cheap. The public library is always nearby and there is hardly a town of any size but what has one. When we purchase a book we should be sure to obtain the best edition and be careful that it is printed from good type and on clear paper. Books are likely to become warm friends. We should never purchase an abridged edition.

Binding is not such an important factor, although we like to have _our favorite books_ put up in a handsome fashion. With Shakespeare, Emerson, Roosevelt, Scott, Cooper, Marden and Hubbard one would have quite a representative collection for a start. It would be easy to expand the list into many more. Of course, those collecting a small library who have a specialty, will want books dealing with the subjects in which they are interested. However, every practical library includes books of inspirational character, and if one makes a study of the books written by great authors it will be found that all of them profited by the reading of books which caused them to think. _The Bible causes us to think!--and no library is complete without it._

CHAPTER XII